Massive weapons cache seized in Afghanistan3 A: ?3 c8 a6 t3 _1 {- U
Thousands of rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft ammunition have been seized in central Afghanistan in the largest cache of militant weapons discovered in months, a government spokesman said Sunday.
% G8 W" T* O: k9 I The arms were to be used to subvert crucial legislative elections on Sept. 18, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Saher Azimi said. , p3 b, t$ o$ D l6 h, q1 { v8 `7 M
# D4 }4 b% q7 j( Y k$ O The raid in Ghazni province's Khogyani district Saturday netted some 2,000 surface-to-surface rockets, 3,000 mortar rounds, 500 artillery shells and 100 boxes of anti-aircraft bullets, he said. 4 \" S/ ]( P& f" A- A) ?
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"The enemy planned to use them to sabotage the elections," Azimi said. "This was a very important operation to prevent the killing of civilians." . |+ b4 k' U! i
6 `; v2 M3 A) Z+ e/ b0 ]# X+ K6 P @ He declined to give any other details about the find, including whether the Taliban were suspected to have stockpiled the cache or whether anyone had been arrested.
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0 T. r7 R% T2 O& F Afghan officials have warned that the Taliban and al-Qaeda have launched a joint campaign to disrupt the September elections — the next key step toward democracy after a quarter century of war. Since March, a major upsurge in fighting has left more than 800 people dead, more than half of them suspected insurgents, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. |